New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1887-12-26

ocpFss MADE IN THE LAST FEW YEARS.

I
Ill y, a.! cd. to parsphrase sydney smiths bitter
W" a. American literature, Who drinks California
80 Today The question will BE answered by
,,,,saa.> tinourhout the cOiniry. who have come
,rfecatr CalifOrns's hest wines. obtained direct
.,, rh, malcss. THIS decade, which has seen the
,~c2l demonstration of the proposition that Call
.,a has ,hs soil and climate adapted for the grow
,r al ihc finest Il apes OF France and Germany,
r,s aso Witnessed cvcrses. failures and grevous dis
~. oi,i,n,uts among neinsberS that enough
- mn the courage of the most s6IgIlne. Every step
- tle PRO fcss Of the wine Industry has cost infn
40 Mains: every advance has been the resJt Of expert
,rtS hat frequently proved tho wothlessless Of
,bol, VINEYARDS. Nearly every prominent vineyard
Is, o. Northern California has at least three or four
tyofic foreign varieties OF grapes which he has been
trced 70 root up In succession because hey have
moved unavailable for making wine that Will i'm
rroye with age In fact, the struggles Of those
have been long and earnest those Of tbs rasn
growers Of Fresno County and Southern Cali
brn'a OF the orange growers Of Los Angeles and
L san Tcrnaidno. And, unlike their brethren of the
south they arc stin sea In regard to many Of the
processes of wire making and the value of humorous
4 Europoa varieties
MISSION GRAPE.
Wine making in California dates back to the time of
he Mission Fathers, 10 1863, when Padre Junipero
s,ra founded the first mission at San Diego There
nc vo thy priests planted The vine, olive, fig. pome-
rranaic and other fruits Their favorite grape was
ned sized black grape which siows IN large loose
clusters and excellent for tho table when freshly
| pcled from thc Vine II makes fair red wine. It's
origin Unknown. claiming that It brought
direct from SPAIN others that II first propagatcd
| IN Mexico. However this be. there Is today
spanish grape which II closely resembles, and It IS
reflection the intelligence Of the Fathers that they
should have brought across the cuttings from
poor variety as The Mission, when they had choice
Of half dozen noble spanish grapes. Tho Mission
grape maLcs a strong sweet wine that goes to the
lead He brandy. Tho Fathers had the monopoly
Of the vintage or many years. mt at all the spanish
American haccndas. which Dana so we'll described
IN Two Years before the MAST wine for the nee
Of tn household made.
PIOvrvrs IL wITF-NAHING.
Early In the Gftics several cnt-rprisng Argonaus
who Lad no, succeeded in eold.minus TUNED their
utciiion v;tlcul;uir. They struck with the
mnlcnsc crops borne by the Mission vine and they
bought ,lncy ards and planted ones. The pioneer
va tho late Charles Kohler. a musician With rrcat
taste for country life. lie good iudg" If wine
nd 10 did much TO foster the struggling industry Of
vine making. Next 20 him stands Colonel Aroston
ualas5ihy. who travelled through Europe making
studies Of the best wine grapes ard then experimental
Nth these v&rciies his estate in sonoTa toTaty.
H. Imported the Hungarian grape called The EHfanGcl
which Is now The popular for clarct and lie
the first to give popularity California clarcts. i
was long time however before systematic r'ort
any Of the work of the present Nucu.tural Comms-
zion To the German wine growers, among whom
one Of the pioneers Jacob Schran OF 81. Helena,
We the fine varieties from The Rhine districts
thai have made California white wines popular.
Among these the Riesng, Burger and Golden
chasselaS
EXPERIMENTS WITH FOREIGN GRtpEs.
II took many years and costly experiments to de-
srninc what European varieles best suited
70 different districts and soils. ana what methods Of
Culture and pruning would produce tho best crops.
thus It found that the Mission grape WAS well
nigh worthless except for the mailing Of heavy sweet
vines and brandy and that for both Of these lur-
poses other varieties far superior Even in the
.ou bern counties they sim cling fOndy to the old
Vision variety. which cxccls all others IN bearing,
but the winc-malels will be forced TO graf tho
Eaisro, the Tlousseau the Carsn on their Ms
non vines These superior for ports Oh BRAN
Il the finer caret grapes are to the ZiniunoeL
Valuable pioneer work in this field Of testing the
Eapt liability Of foreign varieties to California soils
las been done by H. W. Crabb, Captain Gustav
Nbaum, Jacob schramm Charles A. and Clarence
Z WctmoIc, Captain J. IL Drummond and Hofato
LvcrmOre. Each of these men has mad3 study
Of special varieties and has tested heir virtues by
ractca trial Many promising varieties have been con-
a.nn ned in this way because they did not suit certain
bcaltics but these early being leciihcd
md every season sees substantial addition made
to the knowledge OF our viticLltuT!sts.
RESULTS OF PRACTICAL TRIALS.
As a rule. the California wine grower IS a man oil
LIBERAL views and great enterprise Tho representa-
tive men Of tho different sections Of the state have
the wise custom Of visiting anohci'6 vineyards
md exchanging notes in regard TO experiments. in
ais way It has been practically demonstrated that the
re hOd OF pruning SO long employed In this ttatc
fatal success with the choiccr foreign grapes,
md that the climatic features Of California are 10
various that different counties the couDterparts
NJ Ia1f Joza fan vriu
been shown that the Upper Napa Valley resembles
xed0c and part the Rhine Valley that Lower Napa
and eOnoma Valleys and portions OF LlVern0re al
ley resemble the burgundy district that Fresno and
San BernardnO Counties excel In the rlIenlng ana
turing Of the most famous rasn grape Ia the world,
The Muscat Of Alexandria Yet the education OF our
vine makers has only fairly begun, and the heXt
decade ought to great advance In the effort TO
,pproach the delicate flavor and the wholesome quail
Of the best Burgundy claret and Rhine wine types
wErDIvG OUT OLD VARIETIES.
Tie establishment of a State Vltlcutual Commits
Son SIX years ago ala more than any other single
,ause to adv the standard Of California wine ana
encourage the growth OF tho best European varie-
ties of vino grapes. Charles A. Wetmore the presi-
don't who served for five ars made several trips to
De growing districts OF France and Germany ana
his reports full Of valuable Information While
upon his vineyard In the IAvermore Valley hc haS
teen constantly experimenting with new grapes TIC
and os,er leading wine makers have demonstrated
TIA, It pays better raise the choicest French ana
German grapes shy bearers though they be, than 10
grow the common but prolific varieties Here
tofore good prices could be obtained for the Mission
Eape but there was an uDwritten agreement THIS year
ktwcon the large wine makers that not over Hlo per
Ton would be paid FOR these grapes and the leSu"
will the grating OF old vineyards TO better varieties
and the planting Of new ones to choice grapes Fix
yea ago the Zinfandel the best elaie grape ana
every loud In its praises. Nov It IS rerrh'ed
to second place. and the choicest carct IS made from
the Cabcrnct Sauvlgnon, Mclot and VERDICT In the pro
porin Of three ffths Of the first and one fifth Of
each Of the others These the grapes that arc
Used In making the famous Lafttc and Margaux wines
the highest European types Of carets. Yet nothing
hsS hecn found 10 take the place OF the Zlnfande